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He told the BBC: "English language is something that we're pushing very strongly.

"Two things about the English language: You need it to get a job; secondly it brings a community together.

"Public money should be spent encouraging people to speak and learn English. Whenever I raise that with my residents they all agree with that."

Cutting the newspapers, which include publications in Urdu, Gujarati, Bengali and Hindi, would also save the council money, which could be spent on projects to improve residents’ English instead.

Sir Robin added: "Our view is that public money should be spent on building resilience in our community by promoting the use of the English language.

"At a time when the Government is cutting money for English classes as a second language, we are investing in this because we know it will help our residents find employment and bring the community closer together."

Priyonath Singh, 76, of Newham, said: "It's appalling. It's a drastic measure. If you remove the newspapers, my mental age will be reduced completely.”